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Edward Rayner(1624-1682)Information taken from a
series of unidentified articles in "Raynor Family History,"

by Clinton E. Metz - Freeport
Village Historian (undated abt 1970)

Freeport's founder was an
orphan when he crossed the Atlantic with his uncle Thurston
Raynor. That fact has always been suspected but has been a source
of contention until research finally bore fruit at the Suffolk County
Historical Society Museum in Riverhead, on Long Island.
Thompson,
in his famous Long island History called Edward and Thurston
brothers - Pelletreau's "American Families of Historical Lineage"
contended that Edward probably was Thurston's son when they sailed
together from Ipswich, England in 1634.
Now,
like a breeze dispelling fog, comes a pair of letters found at the
Riverhead Museum. The letters from George W. Matthews of
Cutchogue (formerly a Rockville Centre resident) said that he had a
copy of the will of Edward Raynor - the Freeport
founder's grandfather - which was probated in Elmset, England on July
7, 1621.
After
mentioning his "son Thurston" three times in the will, Mr. Raynor
bequested sums of money to others, including "Ann, Marie, John, Edward
and Robert, sons and daughters of my late son Edward Raynor, deceased."
Mr.
Matthews kindly shared a copy of the will. He also shared a
copy of a will written by an earlier ancestor, Robert Reynere of
Wickham Market, County of Suffolk, England, on October 4, 1571.
Robert
Reynere's great-grandson Edward sailed to massachusetts with his
uncle Thurston. The boy's mother had died in England before his
father. Orphaned, Edward joined
the children of his uncle Thurston and aunt Elizabeth on their voyage
to the "new world." Thurston ultimately settled in Southampton.
Mr.
Matthews quotes Donald Linus Jacobus, editor-in-chief for many
years of the American Genealogist, on the origin of the Raynor family
in England. Jacobus' statement, summarized
briefly follows: The Raynors derived from Robert Reynere of
Wickham
Market, Suffolk, who died testate between October 4 and December 5,
1571. His son Edward Raynor of Elmsett in the same county, made
a will on March 22, 1620, proved July 7, 1621, which names his sons
Edward, Richard, John, Samuel, Thurston and Robert, and daughter Anne,
wife of Robert Lewes of Great Bricet, Suffolk, as well as a son-in-law
Henryn Pinson until the grand-children's 18th birthday.
Clifford
Roe Raynor of Manorville
gave copies of both wills to Mr. Matthews.
The
other discovery sheds light - or at least presents an ingeniopus
theory on the name of Edward raynor's wife. A quest in the
Genealogy Room of the New York Public Library uncovered a 1946 survey,
entitled "Edward Raynor of Hempstead, Long Island and some of his
descendants," by Henry Alanson Tredwell. Edward's wife was
probably named Deborah Partridge before her marriage.
From
her husband's will, plus the wills of Elizabeth Partridge of
Flushing dated 1696, and Thomas
Partridge of the same place, dated 1696, Mr. Treadwell believes that
Mrs. Raynor may have been the Deborah Raynor listed as a Hempstead Town
resident in 1698.

Edward Rayner (Raynere, Raynor)
of Raynertown (Freeport),
LI, NY

The first Raynors to come to America were
Thurston Raynor, his wife, Elizabeth, their five children, and
Thurston’s ten year old nephew, Edward Raynor. Residents of Elmsett, in
the County of Suffolk, they left Ipswich, England in April 1634 aboard
the ship, Elizabeth, and arrived in Boston three months later. They
settled first in Watertown, Massachusetts, and in 1636, along with some
other Watertown families, they went to Wethersfield, Connecticut, where
Thurston Raynor was listed among the first settlers. In 1641, Thurston
Raynor and his family and several other families from Wethersfield
moved on to settle Rippowams, the area now known as Stamford,
Connecticut. Three years later, in 1644, Thurston Raynor once again
uprooted his family and joined with twenty-two other Rippowams families
in following their religious leader, Rev. Denton, to Long Island where
they settled Hempstead, in the western part of the Island. The
Edward Raynor family, the largest of the Raynor families,
have generally lived in Nassau County and the western part of
Suffolk County. Before the middle of the past century Freeport, in
Nassau County, was known as Raynortown, due to the large
number of Raynor descendants living there. Edward Raynor is said
to have founded the settlement area in 1659. The
Raynor family often intermarried with the Carman and "Rock" Smith
families whom they consequently share a great deal of history. This
genealogy relates to the descendants of Edward and Thurston Raynor who
settled early at Southampton (his descendants stiuck mainly to the east
end of LI). Edward
Raynor came to America with his Uncle Thurston Raynor in the year 1634.
The ship, Elizabeth of Ipswich, departed Ispwich, England on April 30,
1634 with 108 passengers. They arrived in Boston Harbor in July 1634.
Edward was ten years old and a orphan. At the age of 21, Edward elected
to stay in Hempstead, NY, and eventually establish his home in "South
Woods." It was later named Raynor South, then Raynortown. Until the
mid-nineteen century it was named Freeport.

Josiah
Raynor of Manorville, LI, NY

Abstracted from
the introduction of "Josiah Raynor of Manorville, LI, NY," by Stuart
Payne Howell

All of Mr. Howells excellent Raynor
works (now over 1000 pages of compiled research) are available on one
CD at GenealogyCds.com Josiah Raynor
settled in Manorville, Long Island, New York sometime after 1717.
Manorville, which is situated in both Riverhead and Brookhaven
Townships, formerly had other names: Punk's Hole, Brookfield, St.
George's Manor, Manor of St. George, and Manor. I have used the names,
St. George's Manor, Manor and Manorville interchangeably throughout
this genealogy. Josiah Raynor was the grandson of
Thurston Raynor, the first Raynor to come to America, who immigrated to
Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony from Ipswich, England in 1634 with his
wife and children and an orphaned nephew, Edward Raynor. Thurston
Raynor and his family settled in Southampton, Long Island sometime
between 1646 and 1649, arriving there via Watertown, Massachusetts
(1634-1636), Wethersfield, Connecticut (1636-1641), Stamford, CT
(1641-1644), and Hempstead, Long Island (1644-1646/9). Thurston Raynor
had ten children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. Josiah Raynor, son
of Thurston's son, Joseph, moved to Southold, L. I. from Southampton;
from there he went to Lyme, CT, where his children were born, and
eventually, he returned to L. I., and settled in the area now known as
Manorville. Prior to 1700, Josiah Raynor had been
involved in piracy escapades as a crewman on privateer vessels. In the
late 1690's, he was arrested when he came ashore on the eastern end of
Long Island with his chest of possessions from the notorious Captain
Tew's pirate ship. Josiah
Hobart, High Sheriff, arrested Josiah and confiscated his chest
(estimated
value: 1500 pounds). Through the intercession of his friend, John
Wicks,
who made a "present" of fifty pounds to Governor Fletcher of New York,
Josiah Raynor and his chest were released. It must have been shortly
after that episode that Josiah Raynor abandoned his piracy ways, for in
1700, he settled in Lyme, CT, where he started his family. Just prior
to
that time, Josiah Raynor had purchased a sizable piece of property in
Westchester
County, New York, but because of his piracy activities, he was not
welcome
in New York, so he sold his New York holdings and moved to Connecticut.

Jonathan Raynor of
Ketchaponack, LI, NY

Abstracted from
the introduction of "The Raynor's of Ketchaponack," by
Stuart Payne Howell

All of Mr. Howells
excellent Raynor works (now over 1000
pages of compiled research) are available on one CD at GenealogyCds.com

Jonathan Raynor was
the first white resident of Ketchaponack, the area encompassed by the
villages of Westhampton
and Westhampton Beach on eastern Long Island. From that one seed, many
little Raynors have sprouted to abundantly populate the hamlets of
Westhampton and Westhampton Beach, as well as the larger world beyond. Jonathan Raynor was
the grandson of Thurston Raynor, our first Raynor ancestor in America,
who immigrated to New England from England in 1634 with his wife and
children and an orphaned nephew, Edward Raynor, and in the 1640's,
settled in Southampton, Long Island. Thurston Raynor had seven children
who lived to adulthood, and probably 30 - 40 grandchildren; therefore,
it is likely Thurston's descendants have numbered in the hundreds of
thousands. Originally, the
village of what is now Westhampton Beach was laid out in three distinct
divisions; eventually, all three divisions of the new settlement became
known as Ketchaponack (or Catchaponack, or any of eight other
spellings) - an Indian term meaning a place where large
roots grow.

Raynor Help needed with the following: Anyone with any
information please contact LIG - thank you!! I am looking for information on the Raynor/Penny
family of Long Island. Raynor's first names are either John,
Edward, or Edwin and I have no first
name for his wife, ___ Penny. One of their sons, William Edward
Raynor, was born in 1837 and was kidnapped at age 12 from a NY wharf
and taken on a whaler for 6 years. Any information on
the Raynor/Penny connection would be greatly appreciated.

Originally Capt. J. Norton Raynor's "Old Farm" house located
overlooking East Bay at East Moriches, LI, NY. In the early
1900's his son, Horace Raynor had it moved to the present location on
the west side of Atlantic Avenue, East Moriches.photo by Van Field taken in 1999

Suffolk County Wills
Offered for Probate in the Surrogate's Office, Riverhead
Riverhead, L.I., June 12, 1900

The will of Norton RAYNOR of East Moriches, disposing of
an estate of upward of $5,000, makes the following bequests: To Horace
M. RAYNOR of East Moriches, a son, ten acres of land in the Town of
Brookhaven, a sail boat and one cow; to Caroline MILLER of Kenton, O.,
a daughter, an old rocking chair that was once the property of the
testator's grandmother, while the household goods and money in
the Southold Savings Bank are to be equally divided among testator's
six
children; the balance of the estate is to be divided as follows:
Two-thirds
to testator's three sons, Hiram, Austin and Horace RAYNOR of East
Moriches;
one-third among the three daughters, Caroline MILLER of Kenton, O.
Amelia
CHICHESTER of East Moriches, and Mary DAVIS of Morristown, N.J. Hiram
and Horace RAYNOR are the executors.

[Brooklyn Eagle, Jun 12, 1900, p 7.]

Obituary -- Long IslandCaptain J. Norton RAYNOR

East Moriches, L.I., May 18 -- Captain J. Norton Raynor, the oldest man
in this section, died last night in his 90th year. He was a well known
smack skipper in the New York markets from 1832-1845. He bought a farm
in 1847 and lived on it until the present time, but still retained his
interest in fishing, and before becoming incapacitated by age was one
of the most expert surfmen on the Great South Beach. For many years,
under the old Benevolent Life Saving Society regime, before the
organization of the paid service, he had command of the life boats in
shipwrecks. He was in charge at the wrecks Franklin, Argo, Persian,
Conquest, Mail and many others.
He was born in the Manor and was the last one living of fourteen
brothers and sisters, all of whom lived to mature age, and his six
children, the youngest over 50 years of age, all yet living, are Mrs.
J. C. Miller of Kenton, O.; Captain Hiram Raynor of Center
Moriches, Captain Austin Raynor, Horace M. Raynor and Mrs. Ira K.
Chichester
of East Moriches and Mrs. Louis L. Davis of Morristown, N. J. There are
also fifteen grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren. The funeral
will be from the residence tomorrow afternoon.

[Brooklyn Eagle, Page:13, Date: Monday, May 28, 1900]

Riverhead, L. I., March 6, 1900
The death of Edgar Raynor, for many years a prominent citizen
of this village, occurred yesterday at his home here after a short
illness of grip and pneumonia. He was about 73 years of age. Mr. Raynor
came to Riverhead many years ago from Manor* and
was for some years a photographer - the only one in this section at
that time. He secured a competence and after retiring from business he
conducted livery and boarding stables for a time, but for many years
past has led a retired life. He has been a conspicuous figure in the
life of the
village, enjoying the esteem of all. He is survived by his widow, Mrs.
Edna Raynor, who is the treasurer of the Village Improvement Society,
and Preston Raynor of Manor, a brother. The funeral services will be
conducted Thursday afternoon. The Rev. Mr. Seward of Manhattan, a
minister of the Swedenborgian faith, will preach the sermon.
*Manorville, L.I.